


The Lost Treasure

by Mithen



Series: Slumbers Deep and Dreams of Gold [1]
Category: The Hobbit (2012)
Genre: Angst, M/M, POV Outsider, Past major events follow book canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-07
Updated: 2013-01-07
Packaged: 2017-11-24 01:34:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/628824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mithen/pseuds/Mithen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Why have you never married, Cousin Bilbo?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lost Treasure

"Why have you never married, Cousin Bilbo?"

Hearing his own voice break the comfortable silence of Bag End, Frodo suddenly worried that his question would give offense, and he wished he could draw it back. Ever since his parents' accident last year he had been fairly happy at Brandy Hall, but the weekends he got to spend with his cousin were special to him, and the idea of losing the chance to come and listen to Bilbo's stories and read his books was unbearable.

But to Frodo's relief, Bilbo didn't seem to find the question impertinent. He looked up from his book, peering at Frodo over the top of his glasses, and seemed to consider the question seriously. That was part of what Frodo loved about Bilbo--he took Frodo seriously, and talked to him like an adult. 

"Well," Bilbo said slowly, "I suppose it has to do with my Adventure."

Frodo nodded, eager to hear more. When he'd started coming to Bag End and hearing Bilbo's stories-- _such_ stories, with spiders and Elves and dragons and the great Arkenstone--Frodo had taken them to be made-up. It was only one day when Bilbo had said, half-musing, "No other honey has ever matched Beorn's," that Frodo had truly realized, with a strange thrill, that Bilbo had actually _seen_ all the things he was talking about. Any chance to hear more about Bilbo's great Adventure was an opportunity Frodo was not going to pass up.

Bilbo stood up and poked at the fire, gazing into its embers. Frodo waited--he was a patient young Hobbit and had learned not to rush his cousin. 

"Gandalf warned me that if I returned to Bag End, I would not be the same," Bilbo said. "I haven't told you that part, Frodo, and perhaps I've done you a disservice. Adventures change you, my boy. When you see wonders and marvels, you learn the world is different than you ever imagined. And perhaps you learn that you too are..." He paused, shaking his head. "That is to say, you cannot help but be changed when you see such things."

"Oh," said Frodo. "Is that what Aunt Asphodel means when she says no self-respecting woman would have you now?"

Bilbo threw his head back and laughed out loud, his sheer delight so obvious that Frodo couldn't help smiling too. "So that's what Asphodel says, is it? Perhaps it's true, at that. I've never much cared to ask any of them." The laughter died down into a smile that was just a little wry. "I love the Shire, my boy, and on my adventures I yearned to return to it--more often than I've admitted to you, even! But the world is so wide, so full of beauty that can pierce the heart like a blade and leave you..." His voice trailed off and he sighed. "Sometimes coming home is a comfort and a joy." He looked at Frodo, but his gaze seemed to go through him. "And sometimes you wake in the night and remember the full moon over the Lonely Mountain, and the sound of horns."

He fell silent, and the crackling of the fire was the only sound in the cozy little room. Frodo frowned down at his book, trying to articulate what he wanted to ask. Finally he said, his voice very small in the silence, "So...are you sorry you went?"

"Never," said Bilbo without hesitation. "To have seen such a noble light blaze forth, such a fierce glory burn...it was worth it all." He took a breath. "Even if it now lies forever sealed in darkness and silence, in the roots of the mountain, beyond all our regrets."

Frodo nodded, understanding. "The Arkenstone," he breathed.

Bilbo blinked and seemed to come back from a long distance. After a moment he smiled at Frodo. "Thank you for listening to an old hobbit meander," he said lightly, reaching out to tousle Frodo's curls. "And now I think you should get out of this stuffy hole and get some fresh air, play with the other lads." He glanced out the window. "The last full moon of Autumn is in the sky tonight, and winter will be here soon enough."

Bilbo was staring into the fire once more as Frodo gathered up his things. As the door swung shut behind him, Frodo heard him singing low to himself, a strange slow song, nothing at all like a hobbit-song.

There was a rough beauty in it, and a deep sorrow.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Lost Treasure [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5142773) by [lavendersiren](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavendersiren/pseuds/lavendersiren)




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